Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers

Frank Ramsey was a mathematician, a philosopher and a mathematical economist who died in 1930 at the age of 26. In his short life he created two branches of mathematics, two of economics and persuaded his close friend Wittgenstein that his theory of knowledge, as published in the Tractatus (which Ramsey translated into English) was wrong and needed to be revised. Ramsey was also a close friend of John Maynard Keynes, the Bloomsbury set and the Cambridge Apostles. Ramsey's subjectivist theory of probability laid the basis for modern Bayesian statistics.Cheryl Mizak's sympathetic, detailed and well-researched biography is a joy to read and brings this relatively unknown genius into the light. Highly recommended.

This is an outstanding book, about an extraordinary man.During his tragically short life (he died in 1930 shortly before his 27th birthday) Frank Ramsey made significant contributions to philosophy, economics and pure mathematics, many of which were not recognised until many years later. He was influenced by, but also influenced Wittgenstein, Keynes and Bertrand Russell.If describing someone as a genius means anything, clearly he was one of the greatest geniuses of the last 100 years. And yet he is virtually unknown outside academic circles. Why? Perhaps because it has been difficult for someone who isn’t an “expert” to get to grips with the range and depth of his achievements – where they came from, what they mean and the effect that they have had.Until now, that is. In “Frank Ramsey - a sheer excess of powers” Professor Cheryl Misak not only gives a warm and insightful account of Frank Ramsey the man, but rises magnificently to the challenge of putting his ideas across to a general reader with sufficient detail to be useful and clarity to be understandable (and, if you want to know more, the book contains short sections, that can be read separately in which specialist scholars explore particular ideas in more depth).This book is a remarkable achievement which I can’t recommend highly enough. As someone else has already said “Finally Ramsey has the biography he deserves.”If you already know anything about Frank Ramsey you’ll want to read this book.And if you know nothing at all about him you should read this book.PS: OUP – when this comes out in paperback put the photographs in a separate section on shiny paper where they can be seen properly, not scattered through the book, muddily printed on text paper.

A fascinating biography of a remarkable man. It captures very well the Cambridge and Bloomsbury circles in which he lived and paints a very sympathetic portrait of Frank Ramsey as a person.Intellectually the breadth of his work in the short period of his life was amazing. I am an economist and so familiar with his work in this area. His work on subjective probability, the influence of pragmatism and his later work on truth were new to me and were explained clearly in a way that has left me wanting to understand and read more. The sections on logic and the philosophy of Wittgenstein and Russell I found harder going, maybe because the material is more challenging and less familiar to me.

This was written with sympathy and clarity. Frank Ramsey was an incredible polymath who died when he was only 26 - that he influenced some of the greatest minds in mathematics, economics, and philosophy many of whom went on to win Nobel prizes based on his work is nothing less than incredible.,

A lovely and detailed biography of a truly gifted man, in fact a genius. It is useless to speculate too much but I am convinced Mr Ramsey would have been recognised and talked about in the same breath as Einstein except for his tragically short life. An excellent read !!!

Surprising how little known is Frank Ramsey. This book describes a likeable man who made lasting, world class contributions to many disciplines. An absolute genius who is done proud in this excellent, very readable biography. Highly recommended.

Cheryl Misak does a wonderful job at casting light on Ramsey’s life and intellectual development. She also gives a very vivid description of Cambridge in the early 20th century.

Conveys the full extent of Ramsey’s importance across so many fields of intellectual endeavour, combined with a sympathetic examination of his short but complex life, bringing to life the man as well as the ideas and the intellectual context. Particularly interesting (and, to me, surprising) on the interactions between Ramsey and Wittgenstein. I still don't understand the Tractatus, but Ramsey clearly did, and also helped turn Wittgenstein away from it and towards his later positions. The author doesn't gloss over the fact that Ramsey was by far the pleasanter human being, and of seminal importance across a wider range of fields (in maths and economics as well as philosophy) albeit less remembered than Wittgenstein.

Cheryl Misak begins chapter 14 of her magistral biography of Frank Ramsey with these words:“1927-28 was a year of intense activity in economics for Ramsey. His work during this brief period has made him famous amongst contemporary economists. A striking number of innovations still in play are named after him and the two papers he wrote are still taught in economics graduate courses. One would think this would have him written into the intellectual history books. But when he makes appearances in biographies and studies of Keynes, he is usually nowhere near centre stage, and two recent biographies of Pigou don’t even have him in the index. That’s something of a mystery.”In the history of twentieth century British thought in the immediate post-World War I period, we find famous names aplenty: Bertrand Russell, G.E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Maynard Keynes. Cambridge University was the place to be and all of the above had strong links to the artistic and literary circle known as Bloomsbury and its key figures: Leonard and Virginia Woolf, and Vanessa and Clive Bell. But if a ‘class photograph’ were taken around this time, we would spot a tall, bear-like man in the back row, slightly off to one side and grinning like a mischievous puppy. This is Frank Plumpton Ramsey.By the time Ramsey was eighteen, he was a Cambridge undergrad, busily translating Wittgenstein’s Tractatus into English, arguing as an equal with Russell and Moore about the nature of reality, and helping Keynes with his math. Ramsey died in 1930, just short of his 27th birthday. Who was this man??Cheryl Misak seeks to solve this mystery in one of the best biographies of a philosopher yet written (which is how Ramsey thought of himself). She invites this amiable bear to step out of the shadows and amble down to the footlights so we can get a better look at him. The result is an eye-popping revelation backed by sound historical scholarship. Misak writes with a keen eye for the easily-overlooked connection and the telling detail. Her focus is on the interest level of the average reader and doesn’t presuppose a lot of training in philosophy or economics. For those who want to explore Ramsey’s ideas in greater depth, she provides a number of text boxes written by leading experts. The more casual reader can safely ignore these with no loss.Misak scores a solid five out of five for her trouble. She has cast valuable additional light on a fascinating period in modern philosophy and economics, and allowed Frank Ramsey to take his rightful place in it.

It's a tribute to the excellence of this fine biography that it can be read at several levels: the upper stratosphere of economics, philosophy, and mathematics; a midlevel by those interested in the hijinks of the Bloomsbury group; and finally, by readers like me, who are amused by anecdotes about intellectual eccentrics. For example, the Cambridge don fired from his job in the 1920s because it was found out that he used "engines of love," that is, condoms. (207) Or that Ramsey, the great mathematician, to his surprise, often found his bank account empty when he thought it full (254); or that a Communist don could be employed at Cambridge in the 1940s as long as he gave two week's notice before blowing up the college chapel (301) Worth noting that this was on the eve of the purge of Marxist economists from the ranks of the American professoriate. And finally, we read here that Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ramsey's intellectual sparring partner, slammed the lavatory door at night (347) and demanded the return of a foul bathmat he left behind when he moved abruptly (433) Trivia? Yes. Funny trivia? I think so.

The author describes here the short life of Ramsey. It is true that he has known several genius of his time and has had with them important relations. He in fact entried in contact with Keynes, Wittgenstein, Russell, Arrow, von Neumann. His interests go from game theory to economics, from the mathematical philosophy, to logics and probability. Ramsey has a rich life with strong adventures of thinking, with a strong change of ideas in back-grounds of a certain competence.

It seems to me that the book contains an excellent picture of one of the most original and clever philosophers, died being only 27 years old. Moreover, it has a marvelous description of the Cambridge milieu between the tow World Wars, a place where lived such fascinating people as Bertrand Russell, John M. Keynes, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Frank Ramsey.

Man muss sich für diese Sparte (Biografien von besonderen Menschen) interessieren. In diesem Fall wird man von der Autorin in gekonnter Weise auf den kurzen Lebensweg eines Genies mitgenommen. Interessant für den Durchschnittsleser auch das breite Interesse von Ramsey auf verschiedenen Gebieten. Letztendlich bedauert man, dass er durch sein kurzes Leben nicht in der Lage war, mehr an Einsichten und Entdeckungen seines imponierenden Geistes weiterzugeben.